Introduction
During pregnancy there is a change in the woman’s body. Among other things, the female sex hormones such as estrogens and gestagens (including progesterone) increase due to the implantation of the embryo in the uterus. This has various consequences for the female body, including the fact that the pregnancy causes sometimes strong breast growth.
This breast growth during pregnancy is a natural (physiological) process that only lasts for a certain time. This means that after the pregnancy and the weaning of the baby, the woman’s breasts lose size again. The extent of the fluctuations in breast size depends on the patient, her diet and the number of unborn babies, since twins, for example, also have a higher breast growth rate than patients with a baby. That it comes thus to a chest growth in the pregnancy, is with each female patient approximately starting from the same time of the pregnancy the same. How strongly the breasts grow however depends individually very much on the patient.
Cause
The cause of breast growth during pregnancy is always the upregulation of the female hormones (estrogen, progesterone, prolactin…) During pregnancy and the implantation of the embryo in the uterus, the female hormones are produced and released to prepare the patient’s body for pregnancy. In addition to the patient’s breasts (mamma), the uterus must also grow so that the unborn baby can spread here without being constricted. Furthermore, the skin and connective tissue of the patient must also become more elastic so that the baby’s belly does not tear in the skin.
The reason why breast growth occurs during pregnancy is very understandable. In the breast (mamma) and in the nipple (nipples) of the patient a change takes place. As long as there is no pregnancy, the female breast contains mainly fat, the milk ducts are very weak and do not produce any milk.
This is also very useful because a patient who is not pregnant does not want to produce milk all the time. However, if a pregnancy occurs, the structure of the breast changes. The milk ducts start to produce more milk (proliferate), which is due to the female sex hormones estrogen and progesterone.
The fat, which in non-pregnant patients is mainly found in the breast, is replaced more and more and instead there are more milk ducts and connective tissue in the breast. As a result, not only is there a growth in the breast during pregnancy, but the patient’s breast also feels increasingly firmer. From when the breast growth begins in the pregnancy, is partially different, however it comes with most female patients within the first 12 weeks (first Trimenon) already to a strong breast growth there in this phase also the hormones estrogen and Progesteron ever further rises.
From when the breast growth is particularly pronounced in pregnancy is the 2nd month. During this time there is a very fast and very high increase in the female sex hormones, which leads to an increased development of the milk ducts on the one hand, and on the other hand to the fact that the patient’s breast grows very fast. How long the breast growth lasts varies from patient to patient.
Usually the breast grows during the entire pregnancy easily with. If a female patient breast-feeds her child afterwards, the breast can increase also here again easily in size. In the course of the first months after the pregnancy it should come however to the fact that the chest growth is stopped.
How long the growth of the breast will continue cannot be said in advance. It is also difficult to judge how much the female breast will grow during pregnancy. This depends however among other things on how much breast the patient had before the pregnancy.
Some patients need at least 4 different bras during pregnancy as their breasts increase by 4 cups, while others only have a breast growth of one cup. Breast growth during pregnancy is therefore typical, but how much and how long the breasts grow is very individual and depends a lot on the patient. However, the point in time at which breast growth begins during pregnancy is uniform.This is dated around the 2nd month of pregnancy, although some women report breast growth earlier.
In order to determine that breast growth is occurring during pregnancy, it is usually not necessary to have a medical diagnosis as the patient herself feels a pulling in the breast and also notices that her breasts (mammae) are getting bigger and feel firmer. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to diagnose how much and how long breast growth will continue during pregnancy. Nevertheless, concerned patients can consult their gynecologist who can tell them from experience how much breast growth is to be expected during pregnancy and how long it will last. Starting from when the growth of the breast will begin in the pregnancy, is however simpler to determine since it comes starting from the 2. pregnancy month to the fact that increased milk courses develop and thus the growth of the breast continues to rise. Nevertheless, it is generally very difficult to obtain a diagnosis as to how much and how long the patient’s breast will grow, as this can vary greatly from patient to patient, especially if it is the first pregnancy.
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